Editorial

John 8:12, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Here Jesus says precisely that He is the light of the world and that those who follow Him shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Darkness has been described in the Bible as sinful nature in man. We are lost in sin as our first parents disobeyed God and sinned. David says in Psalms 51:5, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." Yes, we are all born in sin and we need to come out from the darkness of our lives. If we want to come out from darkness, we must have the light of the world in us who is Jesus alone.

Once my brother gave this example, if you are sitting in a dark corner of your room and if the electrician offers to help you to fix the problem and you say, "No, thanks! I am fine in this dark corner of my room." Then there is no hope for you to come out from the darkness. Jesus came to this world as electrician to pull us out from the dark corner of our life but how many times we say, " Who are you? We do not need you."

But the Bible says in John 1:12-13, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

When we accept Jesus in our lives, He comes in and removes the darkness from our lives and enlightens our lives with His light. Yes, My friend, you may be living in deep sin in your life or you may have unanswered prayers or you may be in deep distress and in deep sorrow. You maybe thinking, "everything is darkness before me and there is no way out." But look to Jesus, He is the light of the world and He can remove the darkness from your life and show you the way through which you have to walk.

He not only enlightens our lives but also makes us a lighthouse to show light to others. Jesus said in Mat 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

A lighthouse shows light to ships and prevent them from hitting against rocks which may destroy them. Jesus wants us to be a lighthouse who can enlighten those who are at the brink of destruction. God wants to pull them out from their darkness and destruction. Will you be a lighthouse for Christ?

If you have any prayer request please feel free to send it to us. We will pray for you. Now you can listen to us on Internet at this address: http://www.VoiceOfWilderness.com

Rivers of living water

By Sheela Isaac

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." John 4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

Here the Lord is talking about living water. Now what is this living water? In Bible we find that living water, oil in lamp, fire, comforter, all these words indicate about Holy Spirit (John 7:37-38). So the Lord was telling the Samaritan woman, "if you would have asked Me, I would have given you living water." Bible says one more thing that if a person drinks from that living water, will never get thirsty. But the water will be springing forever for everlasting life. What a great water, what a great promise isn't it? I think nobody wants to miss this water which springs up for everlasting life. Do you?

Let us see how we can get this living water, Holy Spirit:

First and foremost important thing is that this living water is given to only the children of God. It does not apply to you just because you are in a Christian family or you are having a membership of any particular Church. But according to Bible the person must fulfill the criteria of John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

John 7:37, "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. John 7:38, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." John 7:39, "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

So Holy Spirit is given to a person who is a born again believer, or having the experience of salvation. This anointing is only for believers (John 7:38) If you want this living water (means Holy Spirit) you must come to the foot of Calvary and repent from your sins and get redemption first.

What is baptism of Holy Spirit:

This is another frequently asked question where people are getting confused. Some believe that Holy Spirit is given at the time of salvation itself, some believe that these are two different experiences. Now what the Bible says about this?

In John chapter 4 we read about the story of a Samaritan lady. It looks that she receives anointing or baptism of the Holy Spirit at the same time when she got saved. She received the experience of salvation and the anointing of the Holy Spirit apparently at the same time.

But still anointing of the Holy Spirit is different than salvation. When a person gets saved God puts the seal of the Holy Spirit on that person and declares that this person is now in God's family and that devil has nothing to do with that person. Eph 1:13, " In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"

Remember this is not anointing or baptism of Holy Spirit but the seal of Holy Spirit. With the anointing of the Holy Spirit some signs follow which confirms that the person has got anointed.

Now Lord Jesus is speaking to His disciples about Holy Spirit He said, "wait till you receive." And 120 people including Jesus' mother tarried and prayed to receive Holy Spirit. (Acts1:5) And they received the Holy Spirit with the sign of tongue.

Acts 1:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; Acts 1:5, "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

And they received Holy Spirit with sign of tongue.

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

When Cornelius who was not a Jew but a gentile received Holy Spirit, again the sign of speaking in tongue appeared.

Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.

When Elizabeth received Holy Spirit she prophesied. It was the same thing with Zacharias and many others

Luke 1:41-42, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ......... Luke 1:67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, .......

Now Why one receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit:

Once a person is anointed that anointing stays with that person unless that person gets into serious sin. If a person does some horrible sin and grieves the Holy Spirit, that anointing could leave and depart from that person as it happened in the life of King Saul.

So once we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit the anointing is expected to stay life long. And every day when we spend time in prayer He fills with new anointing. And this process continues. But there is special anointing which comes only at the time of need. Let us see quickly what is that anointing.

1. Anointing is given at the time of preaching:

This is a special anointing which comes only at a particular time. When I used to stand for preaching, many times I experienced a special anointing. It looked like somebody pouring water on my head and it is flowing down. And that anointing stays till the message is over. After some time that special anointing lifts up and you will feel as if that anointing is leaving. That is the indication for a preacher to stop there. It means the work is done, God's purpose is over and it is time to stop the message and wind up or close. This is called anointed preaching. It brings deliverance, healing and God's blessings into the lives of people.

2. Anointing is given for ministry:

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

God anoints a person for special purpose or for ministry. God calls people with different calling and that special anointing is given according to that calling. We read in the old testament that God called Aaron for being a priest and He says to Moses in Exo 29:7 "And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him."

In the same way God calls, pastors, evangelists, ministers of Gospel. Do you think God has called you. Do you have that special anointing which He has given to Aaron and specially to Jesus whom God called high priest.

Heb 5:10, called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek," Think about it, if you do not have that anointing or special calling in your life, then your ministry is of no use. It does not bring blessings into the lives of people. Pray and ask God for that special anointing which brings mighty revival.

3. Anointing which breaks the yoke:

This type of anointing comes by fasting and prayer. Many times people say, "I am not able to get rid of my problems or my sinful nature." Yes for these type of things special anointing is needed and when that anointing comes deliverance comes.

Strongholds of devil can not be broken so easily. Now what is stronghold? Actually devil builds his castle slowly in the lives of even believers. He first attacks the thought life and slowly that accumulation becomes a stronghold. We see that in the life of Judas the same thing happened. Devil brought the love of money in his life. He used to steal money from money box. Now the devil could build his stronghold in his mind. And the same stronghold one day destroyed him. Mat 26:14-15, "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

Yes my friend, devil could bring disaster by attacking thought life. It starts with evil thoughts, and if it is not treated in time its end is horrible. If you are not able to break the power of the enemy, take fast and pray and get rid of it or find some God's servant who can pray for you and break it, before it could destroy you. It can be broken by special anointing and fasting and prayer.

You will be blessed

By Sherly Isaac

How wonderful it is to be called, "blessed by God." Abraham not only got this title but also got the promise from God that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because of him. What were the qualities that made Abraham so great and so blessed.

1. He obeyed God:

Genesis 22:18, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

When God called him to come out of his native place and to go to a land which was unknown to him and to his ancestors, he did not even think, "I will be a stranger in that land and how I could manage to live there." But he obeyed God and came out from his own country to follow the direction of the Almighty God. He was determined to be obedient to the Lord, at whatever the cost. And God blessed him because of his obedience towards Him.

How many times we fail to obey God. God says do this and we argue with Him and try to teach Him saying that He is wrong. But Abraham obeyed God and got the blessings of God. If we want to be blessed in our lives, we should obey God.

Now the question is, how can we obey God? Abraham was hearing directly from God, but how can we know what God wants us to do? Well, God has given us the Bible, His word, to know what His will is for our lives. The more we read the word of God the more we can know what we have to do and how to obey God and how to correct our lives.

2. He did what God exactly wanted him to do:

Genesis 22:2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, it would have been a blow for him. He might have thought, "I never asked for it, you only gave me a son and now.. oh." But here we see the faith of a man who really trusted on God and he was ready even to give up his only son whom he got miraculously in his old age.

And we read in Genesis 22:7, But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Genesis 22:8, And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.

And when his son Isaac asked him where the lamb is, then Abraham replies, "God will provide for Himself." His heart was bleeding with pain to lay his hand on his only son, but he had faith that God would do a miracle in his life. He had faith that they will worship God and that both of them will return to their home safely. And God did according to his faith.

Your heart may be bleeding from inside but from outside no one could see your pain. Everything may be wonderful from outside but you may be hurting inside. There is a God who looks at our hearts, and the same God who looked at the faithful heart of Abraham and rewarded him will reward you. So be of good cheer. Trust in God and He will make you a blessed person.

Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 8th Dec.. 2015

As the Bible says in Ezekiel 22:30 "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it." And also the Bible says in Numbers 16:48, "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." We have fasting prayer every second Tuesday of each month. Our next fasting prayer meeting will be conducted on 16th Nov. 2015

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Through the Valley of Death

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